The FINANCIAL — Georgians have differing attitudes on love and marriage than do most Europeans or North Americans, usually opting for a more “traditional” approach than us westerners are used to.
The FINANCIAL — Georgians have differing attitudes on love and marriage than do most Europeans or North Americans, usually opting for a more “traditional” approach than us westerners are used to. 91% of Georgians believe that a stable, long term relationship is necessary to be happy, and an even greater number believe children to be a universal goal. But what does it take to make that long term relationship happy and stable besides children? Below I outline what Georgians believe to be the keys to marital bliss.
In this most recent wave of the European Values Survey, which takes place every ten years, Georgian Opinion Research Business International interviewed 1500 Georgians on their attitudes toward politics, religion, and as we’ll discuss, marriage.
|
M |
F |
Children |
87% |
85% |
rather |
12% |
15% |
not |
1% |
1% |
Sharing household chores |
62% |
64% |
rather |
34% |
33% |
not |
4% |
4% |
Same social background |
19% |
24% |
rather |
35% |
36% |
not |
45% |
41% |
Living apart from in-laws |
27% |
33% |
rather |
31% |
36% |
not |
42% |
31% |
As I mentioned above, having children is by far the most important requisite for a successful marriage in the minds of Georgians; 85% of respondents said it was very important and virtually no one said it was unimportant. Respondents also feel it’s crucial that both partners participate in maintaining the household; 63% said it was very important to share in the chores and 34%, the practical remainder, said rather.
It’s not particularly important to Georgians to marry someone from their side of the tracks, as long as there is adequate income for living once they do. About 43% of respondents said it was not at all important to marry within their social stratum, but almost everyone (92%) said it was very or rather important to have enough money to get by. It wouldn’t even be a particular problem to live with in-laws if it ensured this comfortable lifestyle; 36% of respondents felt it was unimportant to live apart from extended family and less than a third felt it was a great necessity.
|
M |
F |
Adequate income |
63% |
58% |
rather |
29% |
34% |
not |
8% |
8% |
Shared religious beliefs |
52% |
53% |
rather |
32% |
34% |
not |
16% |
14% |
Agreement on politics |
8% |
10% |
rather |
21% |
23% |
not |
71% |
67% |
Happy sexual relationship |
58% |
52% |
rather |
38% |
38% |
not |
4% |
10% |
Agreement on “the big issues” is not a big issue to most Georgians either. Having the same religious beliefs is somewhat important, though considering Georgian religiosity it’s not as important as you might expect. Half of our respondents did feel it was important to marry a member of their church, but about 15% didn’t really care. Political agreement doesn’t much matter at all, 69% having said so.
As a point of interest I’ve included the gender split in these articles, even though there’s not terribly too much disagreement between the sexes. This demographic split allows me to illustrate one fun fact: women feel that almost everything is a little more important to a marriage than men: agreement on issues, sharing the chores, social background, and living arrangement. The two areas where men were a little more concerned? Adequate income and a healthy sexual relationship.
All data in this column have margins of error of 2.5% with 95% confidence.
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